THE ORIGINS OF MILITARY PROFESSIONALISM REPRESENT A SHARP BREAK WITH THE EUROPEAN FEUDAL TRADITION. IT TOOK PLACE IN THE PRESENT DAY NETHERLANDS WHICH WAS, IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS TIMES, A REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETY: HIGHLY URBANIZED, GOVERNED BY A MERCHANT OLIGARCHY RATHER THAN A LANDED ARISTOCRACY, & POLYCENTRIC RATHER THAN ABSOLUTIST IN ITS POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. THE RESULT WAS AN ARMY COMPOSED OF & LED BY FOREIGN MERCENARIES RATHER THAN THE CUSTOMARY FEUDAL LEVIES. THE PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES & COMPOSITION OF THE DUTCH ARMY LED TO AN EMPHASIS ON RATIONALIZATION, ROUTINATION, & SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION. THE FORMATION & DISCIPLINE OF ITS FORCES WERE BASED ON THE EARLIEST KNOWN OF A FACTORY TYPE SYSTEM: MILITARY BEHAVIOR WAS REGULATED BY THE IMPOSITION OF SERIAL ORDER, EXPLICIT VERBAL COMMANDS, & A FULL CYCLE OPERATION. PRINTED INSTRUCTION MANUALS, PERHAPS THE 1ST FOR ANY TRADE, WERE DEVELOPED. THE DUTCH ARMY OF THIS PERIOD IS POSSIBLY THE FIRST MODERN BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATION & THE OPENING WEDGE TO THE MODERN STATE. IT COULD ONLY HAVE COME INTO BEING IN THE COURSE OF A NATIONAL REVOLUTION, IN THIS CASE THE EARLIEST IN MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY. AA.